Shea Serrano Talks Cousin Stizz

Shea Serrano is a man of many titles: former teacher, current best-selling author, basketball encyclopedia, father, husband, and the self-proclaimed “#1 Cousin Stizz fan in America”. He truly does it all, and with the substantial amount of Cousin Stizz-praising tweets and even articles that Serrano has offered throughout the years, it only made sense for us here at Graduation Music to ask him a few questions regarding Boston’s hometown hero.

How did you originally discover Cousin Stizz?

Someone sent his Suffolk County tape on Twitter when I asked if anyone had any good new music I should listen to. This was back in 2015, I think.

What are your top 3 favorite Stizz songs and why?

“Fed Up” is probably my favorite one because it arrived to my ears at a point in my life when I needed to hear it the most. “Doubted Me” is my second favorite for the same reason. And “Talk” is probably my third favorite, mostly because it feels like a very good encapsulation of what a Cousin Stizz is.

You can only keep one – Suffolk County, MONDA, One Night Only. Which project would you choose to keep and why?

One Night Only is the best Cousin Stizz tape, but my personal preference is Suffolk County because I have a personal emotional connection to it.

If you had to compare Stizz to an NBA player, past or present, who would it be and why?

I would probably say somebody like James Harden, on account of how Harden makes the very difficult things he’s doing on the court look easy and effortless. That’s the way Stizz raps and builds songs. You hear them and you go, “Oh, everyone can do this,” but then you see people try and go, “Oh shit. Wait. This is terrible.”

If you could choose any artist, past or present, to collaborate with Stizz on a song, who would it be and why?